Sales at stores open at least two years surged 16.8 percent in March, which represented a slight deceleration from gains logged in January and February.

"The concept of growth is simple, find more customers every day and increase your activity with them. However, execution is hard work," the company said in a statement. "We strive to generate strong profits; these profits produce the cash flow necessary to fund the growth and to support the needs of our customers."

From Fastenal's press release:

The growth was more pronounced in our industrial production business (this is business where we supply products that become part of the finished goods produced by our customers) and less pronounced in the maintenance portion of our manufacturing business (this is business where we supply products that maintain the facility or the equipment of our customers engaged in manufacturing). This corresponds to the 2009 contraction, which was more severe in our industrial production business and less severe in the maintenance portion of our manufacturing business. These patterns are influenced by the movements noted in the Purchasing Manufacturers Index ('PMI') published by the Institute for Supply Management (http://www.ism.ws/), which is a composite index of economic activity in the manufacturing sector.